


tumble into my heart

by hotgirljaemin



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Sports, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gymnastics, M/M, Team Dynamics, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, jeno is a fool with a crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:27:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23868997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotgirljaemin/pseuds/hotgirljaemin
Summary: But Jeno, living off in his rose-tinted world, sees him as the boy with perfect teeth, sparkling eyes, and a claim on his heart.
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Liu Yang Yang
Comments: 10
Kudos: 106
Collections: nono birthday bash





	tumble into my heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [howaboutpotatoes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/howaboutpotatoes/gifts).



> leo!! i was so excited to see this prompt because i love a sports!au !! ;u; jenyang nation rise!! 
> 
> ngl i am personally not in a lovey fluffy mood rn irl (i have the big sad) so i drew a lot of inspiration from listening to playlists from those who are. i would encourage all who read to listen to some soft lofi jams and feel the love !!! 
> 
> prompt: Jeno's working up the courage to ask his friend Yangyang from his gymnastics class out, but man is it hard when Yangyang smiles and all thoughts leave Jeno's head.

☆☆☆

Jeno relishes in the pull of his back muscles stretching as a pair of hands push down on his obliques. He can’t stop the groan that escapes his lips at the slight sting that comes with it but he has to push past it.

Stretching has never been easy for Jeno. 

He understands it's a necessary step to keep up his flexibility and lessen the chance of injury, but the years of bad posture have left him with more knots than he can keep track of. He’s gotten into the habit of coming into the gym before practice starts just so he can have the extra time to release that tension within himself. 

Jeno may only do gymnastics as a hobby, but it’s in his nature to do his best at anything he attempts. Pommel horse is all about arms; using nothing but your own arm strength to swing your body around the apparatus. While he’s got plenty of arm strength and has picked up a technique that allows him to sway his body in a way that makes the stunt look effortless— the knots in back cause him to tire more easily than he’d like to admit. Hobby or not, Jeno wants nothing more than to put on a good show and to make his teammates proud. He doesn’t want them to worry about him making mistakes. It’s his own burden so he’ll put in the extra effort.

Most days he is alone, watching his form on the screen of the iPad he uses to record himself, and other days he’s doing partner stretches with a teammate. He prefers partner stretches since they’re much more effective, but due to hectic college schedules he hadn’t been able to find someone to come in with him regularly—until recently. 

Jeno should be excited about having a teammate to help. But it’s proving to be quite the distraction. He’s finding himself unable to fully relax because his teammate, Liu Yangyang, keeps smiling at him and it turns Jeno’s brain into mush. Many would describe Liu Yangyang as energetic, playful, and a walking meme. But Jeno, living off in his rose-tinted world, sees him as the boy with perfect teeth, sparkling eyes, and a claim on his heart. 

Yangyang transferred to their school at the beginning of the year and came into Jeno’s life in a literal back handspring. He was showing off during tryouts, and, not realizing how close to the bleachers he was, overran and ended his jump toppling into poor Jeno sitting in the front row.

Jeno wasn’t upset about it- accidents happen and who could be mad about a cute boy in their lap? Yangyang insisted on buying him dinner as an apology. Jeno remembers sharing a pizza of questionable quality and watching My Hero Academia on Yangyang’s tiny Chromebook. (If Jeno watched the way the lights from the screen bounced off his cheeks more than the anime itself, it’s nobody's business but his own.) He can’t help but feel lightheaded when Yangyang faces him; long lashes, a blinding smile, and a scrunched nose, laughing about whatever happened in the scene. Jeno knew he was fucked before the night even ended.

Which brings him to his current problem.

Yangyang offered to come in early with Jeno. The idea was great in theory, having another person to mold him into shapes he can’t do on his own, but Jeno can’t relax around him. Not when he’s hyper-aware of the feeling of the body pressed against him. Not when he’s so close he can count each individual eyelash. He catches himself on more than one occasion forgetting his count because his mind decides it’s an appropriate time to daydream about pulling Yangyang into his lap and kissing him. This happens to be one of those times.

He hears a chuckle above him.

“Jeno, it’s been a full 30 seconds already. You really shouldn’t stretch in that position for much longer. You might get stuck like that forever.”

Jeno sits up and turns around to look at the other boy. Yangyang has taken himself to lay on a mat a few steps away. He lies down on right his side, right arm propping up his head, and left arm holding onto his left foot. Jeno changes his own position so that it matches before speaking.

“That doesn’t even make any sense, why would I get stuck?”

“You know how parents say not to make ugly faces because it’ll get stuck that way? What if that happened with like, any muscle? Imagine being stuck in the splits for the rest of your life. I would rather die.”

Jeno snorts at the thought. “Really? I figured you’d do something ridiculous to help you get around. I could see you tying a bunch of balloons to yourself and floating your way to class.” Yangyang clicks his tongue in distaste. 

“Jeno please,” Yangyang changes his position so that he’s holding himself on the opposite arm and holding the right leg. “I’d use drones to carry me. I’ll have the boys follow me around with a remote in their hand. They can take me wherever I need to go.” 

Jeno lets go of his stretch and rolls over so that he’s lying flat on with his back on the gym floor. He turns his head toward Yangyang, the overachiever who decided to hold his stretch for longer than 30 seconds. Part of it is Yangyang’s enjoyment in showing off, but most of it is because Yangyang wants to push himself as much as he can. 

“You know Sicheng would never go along with that. He knows better than to aid in inflating your ego.”

“You know what Sicheng said to me today? We were talking about Avatar: The Last Airbender- don’t ask- and he said that I reminded him of Azula. Azula! Don’t get me wrong, she gets my bi heart pumpin’, but really? How are we anything alike?” Jeno was laughing before Yangyang even finished ranting. 

Yangyang’s antics were always in good nature. He’s a pigtail puller, teasing those he cared about the most as his way of showing affection. Jeno’s too familiar with being the victim of several pranks and bouts of teasing throughout his life, but Yangyang’s are different. 

Yangyang was flirty by nature and Jeno was already rather easily embarrassed without his giant crush intensifying it. Yangyang has taken it as a personal game to embarrass Jeno. A lip lick, inappropriate sounds, posing in questionable ways during practice while making direct eye contact, all to see Jeno flush and get a slight slap on the arm as punishment. It’s not that Jeno hates it-- he’s had that memory of Yangyang’s eyebrow raise and smirk on his mind for weeks now. He can only imagine how bad he is with his regular friends. 

This is when Jeno realizes he’s been staring for too long, and notices Yangyang looking back at him with an anticipating expression.

“What did you do to him? I told you he was still in a mood after the last prank you pulled on him.” 

“He said something about me being a little devil, but it doesn’t matter! What does matter my dear boy, is that I need to know your opinion.” Yangyang has let go of his pose and positions himself so that he is sitting upright with his legs crossed and facing him. Jeno blinks.

“My opinion on whether or not you’re a devil…?” 

“Oh my god,” he whines. Yangyang makes a few incoherent guttural sounds (that Jeno can’t tell are laughs or terrible fake sobbing) before speaking again. “I meant who am I in the Avatar universe? Who do you think I am?”

Ah, that. 

That makes more sense.

Jeno feels almost embarrassed by how quickly his answer comes to him. 

“Honestly,” Yangyang perks his head up slightly, “there’s no one else you could be other than Ty Lee.” Yangyang sits back up and crawls a few inches closer to Jeno. He narrows his eyes and looks him up and down, clearly not convinced.

“Why?”

How can he explain this in the least embarrassing way?

“Well you’re a genius at floor work for one. You can move so easily I’m amazed you don’t have water where your bones should be. You’re so fluid—so untouchable, it’s honestly unfair to the rest of your competition how good you are. She’s a really strong fighter and competitor even if it’s unconventional for her universe.” Jeno can feel his ears heating up the more he talks, so he averts his gaze to look at anything other than the boy sitting in front of him. 

“You’re both social, able to fit into any part of the social ladder but you’re also the loyal type. You have your set group of people closest to you that you’d do anything for and are ready to fight if anyone wrongs them. You don’t do things because of morality, but to support your friends and for your own ambitions. Some people may think of her as evil but she’s just morally grey.

“I don’t think you even know how much you affect people. You illuminate any room you walk into. Everyone immediately zeroes in on you— your energy, your aura. You could make anyone do just about anything you wanted if you figure out what makes them tick. It could be used for evil but it’s usually used for teasing, for flirting, or for your own enjoyment.” 

Jeno can feel his hands clamming up. He knows he’s past the point of no return as this comparison is becoming far too specific to pass off as a fleeting thought. He never was a man of many words, so this is probably the most he’s talked in a while to anyone other than Jaemin and Renjun. Even to his own ears it sounds like a roundabout confession, R so he might as well take the chance and properly confess, right? But maybe that’s too much. 

Jeno’s confident in most things in his life. He never questions his body when he balances himself on the pommel horse. He doesn’t question his looks, feeling confident in his own skin and understanding he may not fit into everyone’s standards. He’s confident in knowing his place in life and his role in his family and friends. He’s never been the type to demand attention to himself. He prefers watching others get their time to shine as he sits on the sideline supporting. He thrives the most when he’s in a team-based environment. 

But feelings? Feelings are so internal. They’re his problem that no one can help with. He can only sit so long before they bubble up and he’s drowning in his own thoughts. He’s not scared of being in love (is it love yet?), but more scared of any adverse reactions. He would never want to make Yangyang uncomfortable or feel like he had to be pitied if the emotions weren’t reciprocated. 

He’d rather ignore the way his heart palpitates when he seesYangyang’s sweaty shirt clings to his body. He’d rather ignore the way his cheeks burn when he sees Yangyang slide down into the splits, spreading farther apart than what should be humanly possible. He’d rather squash his own feelings than stop Yangyang from being himself without restriction.

Jeno takes the chance to sneak a glance at the other boy. He had his brows furrowed, a pink tint to his cheeks, and a slight pout. Damn it was cute. Jeno hears himself before his brain registers he’s talking.

“You’re so cute.”

Shit.

Yangyang straightens himself and starts blinking very rapidly. He slowly starts to laugh and attempts to silence it with his hands but it doesn’t work. Ouch. He’s not sure what kind of reaction he was expecting, but being laughed at wasn’t it.

“Um, forget I said anything. I didn’t—“ Jeno is interrupted by Yangyang pressing two fingers to his lips. He’s… smiling? Jeno’s heart jumps in his chest. That stupid smile again.

“Come on, Jeno, I need to finish the last of my stretches.” 

Yangyang pulls him by his arm and leads him to the edge of one of the gymnasium’s walls. Yangyang doesn’t lean on the wall, standing a few inches away from it ashe waves for Jeno to approach him. Jeno gulps. This stretch will be his demise.

Yangyang rests his arms on the wall behind him and brings up his right leg. Jeno grabs this calf with both hands and slowly lifts it so that it almost touches Yangyang’s shoulder and holds it in place.

“So, is this the closest to a confession I’m gonna get from you, or do you have another character analysis prepared for me?” Yangyang is beaming from ear to ear, clearly amused at the situation. “I’m surprised it took you this long to speak up. I’ve been flirting with you for the past 5 months.”

Jeno lets out an embarrassed whine. “Wait, you were actually flirting with me? I thought you were just trying to embarrass me.”

“I do love watching you internally panic, but I was hoping you would get out of your own head so we could move onto the good parts.” 

“The good parts?” Jeno feels warm. Too warm. His entire body buzzes with adrenaline and his heart beats with a vigor so strong it feels like it’s going to burst. 

Yangyang smirks. “Times up. Switch legs.” 

What a tease.

Jeno puts down his leg and lets Yangyang shift his position before grabbing his left leg. This time, he maintains eye contact with him as he lifts it, and to his enjoyment Yangyang looks a bit flushed but continues speaking. 

“Dates. Making out. Waking up in each other’s arms. You know, the good parts.” Yangyang shakes his head to get the hair out of his eyes. They’re sparkling. Jeno subconsciously licks his lips.

“And why aren’t we doing any of this now?”

Yangyang snickers, “I’d like to finish my stretches before the rest of the team starts piling in and practice starts. As tempting as it may be, I know to restrain myself. It won’t be easy to get me off of you Lee Jeno. I will climb you like a tree and make myself right at home.” 

Jeno lets out an involuntary squeak. “Oh god, please do.” 

Yangyang laughs again. “After practice maybe we can go to your dorm, order some takeout and watch Beastars? I won’t make any promises about paying attention to the plot though. I imagine I’ll be quite distracted.” 

Jeno laughs and nods. He should have known that things didn’t have to be so different than they already were. A change in a relationship dynamic doesn’t always have to be a bad one. He can still have his friend, his teammate, his stretching partner, and potentially a boyfriend all at the same time. 

“Time’s up,” Jeno whispers, starting to put down Yangyang’s leg.

“Wow, Jeno actually keeping count? That’s a first,” Yangyang teases. 

Jeno tilts his head and leans forward, staring down at the smaller man. Jeno doesn’t know where this bout of confidence comes from, but oh it feels good. 

“Before, I couldn’t keep track because I was too distracted by you. But now I have a new motivation to help me. Keeping track of 30 seconds is a lot easier if I think about it as 30 seconds sooner until I can kiss you.”

Yangyang’s ears turn red and his lashes flutter as he stares at Jeno’s lips. He’s too cute.

“Jeno I swear to god if you don’t kiss me after saying all that cringey shit—” Jeno laughs as he connects their lips. 

The first kiss is short, sweet, and unsure. He can taste the residual flavor of the citrus gum Yangyang likes to chew. He feels Yangyang’s arms wrap around his neck and adjust his head to a more comfortable position. 

The second kiss? Much like Yangyang, it’s strong-willed and playful. He should have known that he’s the type to want to lead, to tease, nipping on his bottom lip when he least expects it. It’s a bit awkward, as all early kisses are, but Jeno certainly isn’t complaining. He can't wait to learn all about this side of Yangyang— what he likes, what will break him. He’s addicted already. How is he supposed to stop? How is he going to be able to practice when the feeling of their lips together is going to be the only thing on his mind?

Jeno eventually does pull back, needing to breathe and wanting to look at the other boy to make sure this was actually real. He sees lips slick with spit, stretched out into a smile. That same beautiful smile that greeted him after Yangyang fell on him when they met all those months back. He loved that stupid smile.

“Hey,” Yangyang raises his hands to cup Jeno’s face. “You look like you’re in a trance. Snap out of it Jeno, I’m not going anywhere other than to your dorm after this.” 

“I can’t wait ‘til practice is over.” 

“Me either.” Yangyang smiles.

That beautiful fucking smile.

☆☆☆

**Author's Note:**

> my goal was to make everyone feel icky sticky with love and i hope i achieved that lololol


End file.
